Body Soiree

It is amazing to me how being near the ocean( pick one, doesn't matter) can make you feel. Some people say they feel their mortality, small and insignificant or even scared. But as I sit here watching the Atlantic, all I feel or have ever felt, is hopeful. I have had the pleasure of living on both coasts, always near the water and nothing makes me feel so full of wonderment than the ocean. I am always in a better mood when walking a beach (who isn't?) I am able to think clearer, plan better and all of this without wine! A good friend, who is very much into astrology, tried to explain to me my love for water and anything aquatic by saying it is due to me being a Pisces. Hhhhmmm.... I said, because if that were the case I would be able to SWIM! This is what makes this all too funny to me; I don't swim. I was never taught and I love the water. I am not afraid of it, I will get in it with you, splash about and even put my head under, I just can't swim to save my life OR you...

As a Personal Trainer and fellow Human Being, I tend to wonder about the mental state of people. Look! I get it! Everyone wants the "hot and perfect" body(as if that exists) but what I don't get is subjecting our children to these crazy, unrealistic expectations.  Why are parents hiring Personal Trainers for their pre-teens? Nine and ten year old children with Trainers? Really!? Unless they are some type of sports prodigy; I don't get it. Shouldn't outside be their gym? Whatever happened to playing outside? or if it is too cold, playing INSIDE!? When did this become passe'? I actually heard a group of twelve year old's and I knew they were twelve by the class they were in, discussing how they try not to eat carbohydrates! At twelve I didn't know what a carb was. I knew meat, vegetables, fruit, rice and potatoes, I didn't even know those were starches! Now where did those children learn this? The Parent(s)! Body Dysmorphia and myths regarding food a...

"You know I'm cursed with morals. I was raised a certain way. I wish I wasn't. I wish I was raised by wolves."  Carson Daly  It's funny how you read something and it expresses just what you are feeling or going through at the time; almost God sent. I read this quote while pondering if I should keep a friend in my life who, by past experiences, isn't much of a friend to me. I guess you call people like this 'associates?' Yes, they have been relegated to the associate shelf. It isn't as if they are this horrible person that tosses cat's for fun; they just can't seem to rise above their raising. And the sad thing is; they don't want to. If you have never heard the phrase "Rise above your raising" let me explain it to you: some of us have parents that weren't always the best examples in certain situations. Bad habits, no coping skills and a general skewed perspective on the world and life is sometimes the legacy we inherit....

"Nobody cares about your excuses.nobody pities you for procrastinating nobody is going to coddle you because you are lazy.its your ass you move it." I saw this quote and had to share it. When I saw it; it was as if someone had been listening to my inner thoughts when I first started seriously exercising.  My mantra, said while power walking, jogging, or anything that I didn't want to do and had to force myself, was: Get up and MOVE! Move that fat ASS! Seeing that it is my butt, I can call it fat all I want and I did. Everyone has their own mantra and motivator's, we also have our excuses: I don't have time, I don't like to sweat( seriously!?), I feel funny working out, people are judging me( they already have, who cares!), my body jiggles( yes, because you don't workout!) etc. And while we have all used one of these or created new excuses, it is still our butts getting wider by the minute. Sitting on the sofa, watching whatever television show is caus...

I had a hard time letting go. People, things with any type of sentimental attachment, etc. It was the idea that I had abandoned someone that I couldn't shake. What if they might need me? What if they are left alone and something bad happens to them? What if all they need is just one more chance to act right and I leave? Then what?! I am writing about this because just last night, as I was cleaning out my backpack, a note from years ago dropped out of my agenda. It was a note written by an ex-fiance listing all of the reasons he loved me. This note was written over seven years ago... why do I still have it? I thought I had become this person who every six months cleans house, literally and figuratively. Clothes, shoes, linens, people, I clean house, but I guess old habits die hard and for some reason I kept this list and then promptly put it away and purposely forgot it.  Did I need validation? I was a good Woman to him, he was a donkey( did you know some donkey's walk and talk...

A Client asked me how is it that the weight he gained just 'sneaked' up on him? I said it didn't, though it will feel like it. I told him he wasn't paying attention, he allowed himself to get lost in the shuffle of life. That fat will roll (excuse the pun!) up on you like a thief in the night and you will go from size 8 to 20 without blinking, I am talking from experience here. We all get caught up in the everyday of it, the IT being life and we will create all manner of reasons to not take control of our self-destructive behaviors, am I right? I have heard most of the excuse's, from my feet hurt from work( they just might), to my children won't let me!? Really? Who is in charge here? Did you just throw your children under the bus? Excuse's aren't needed; Life happens and sometimes getting overweight and unhealthy happens with it, but don't despair, there is a fix. It isn't a quick fix, an easy fix or a magic pill. This requires that you pay atte...

"Learn to love yourself, so that you may focus on loving another." Anon I love a good quote and this is one of many that I love. Why? It is so true. How many of us, man or woman, have tried and failed at relationships because we had no self-love? my hand is up and waving! If you think about it, it makes perfect sense, we just don't like to own it. I also dislike the fact that my mother used to say this to me a lot "If you can't love yourself, you can't love anyone else." Quote, end quote. Okay, so she was right..kinda. I know what you are saying, " I have loved plenty of people and maybe not have cared for myself all that much" and I will agree, so did I, but did it last? I can only speak for myself, no, none of the relationship's lasted, because I didn't have a good relationship with me. The key word in the quote above is Focus. We, as women, tend to focus more on others: children, men, job, education, etc. than ourselves. Everythin...